{"id":37965,"date":"2018-04-24T09:58:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T13:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=37965"},"modified":"2018-04-24T09:23:57","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T13:23:57","slug":"emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday’s Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes ‘secret ingredient’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five student composers. Anticipation. Five hours. Fear. One concert. <\/span><\/p>\n

And one champion.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this spring\u2019s first-ever Iron Composer competition at Eastern Mennonite University is less about proving who\u2019s \u201cbest of the best\u201d than it is a life lesson reflective of the demands a real-world career composer\/arranger might face, said Professor <\/span>Ryan Keebaugh<\/span><\/a>: \u201cHey, I need a 30-second cue within an hour,\u201d or \u201cHey, can you arrange something for this group really quick? Cause this is a problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The competition for cash prizes begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, and will culminate the same day in an evening concert in which professional musicians will perform the five contestants\u2019 works before an audience and a panel of judges. <\/span><\/p>\n

The concert is at 7 p.m. in Lehman Auditorium, and is free and open to the public.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the contestants, Keebaugh said, the whole event is \u201ckind of nerve-wracking, just showing up not knowing what you\u2019re going to write for.\u201d He knows, because he\u2019s been a contestant before \u2013 in an international version of what\u2019s to take place at EMU. <\/span><\/p>\n

The contestants \u2013 and the contest<\/b><\/h3>\n

The five contestants at EMU \u2013 <\/span>Perry Blosser, Kaleb Branner, Robbie Chaplin, Silas Clymer<\/b> and <\/span>Andry Stutzman<\/b> \u2013 were selected from applications submitted by all 14 students in the university\u2019s composition program. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the start of the competition, the contestants will receive instructions specifying the ensemble for which they are composing and the secret ingredient \u2013 or ingredients \u2013 they must include. After five hours of composing time, each of the composers will have a brief afternoon rehearsal with the performing ensemble. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then, in the evening, Keebaugh will emcee the concert, during which the judges \u2013 a nonmusician, two ensemble members and Eric Guinivan, the composer-in-residence at James Madison University \u2013 will provide live feedback. <\/span><\/p>\n

That prospect is only a little intimidating.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn its mystery,\u201d said Blosser, a senior music interdisciplinary studies major with a Bible and religion minor from Harrisonburg, \u201cmusic composition can be both the most beautiful thing in life and the most taxing. For this reason I both anticipate and fear spending five hours locked in a room with blank manuscript paper.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am very curious,\u201d Branner said about the secret ingredient and the performing ensemble unknown. But, the sophomore music composition major from Churchville, Virginia, added, \u201cI\u2019m mostly just excited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The competition is one that Chaplin, a sophomore music education major from Lexington, Virginia, expects will \u201cpush me and my writing style\u201d \u2013 and he\u2019s looking forward to hearing the resulting new compositions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stutzman has been composing music for as long as he can remember, as a Harrisonburg youngster whistling tunes he\u2019d thought up and later in advanced music studies at Eastern Mennonite High School. Now a senior music education major, he enjoys the process of composing \u201csometimes as much as the final product,\u201d he said. \u201cSo even though we only have a few hours to write these pieces, I\u2019m sure it will be a great time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The winner will receive a cash prize and a commission to be premiered and performed by EMU\u2019s Emulate Chamber Ensemble. The second- and third-place winners will also receive cash prizes. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the real prize, Clymer said, \u201cis that we get to have our pieces performed by professionals.\u201d The first-year double major in math and computer science from Meridian, Mississippi, is minoring in Honors and music, and said that while he has composed music and \u201cplayed around with ideas\u201d throughout high school, his composition lessons with Keebaugh this year \u201creally motivated me to compose more intentionally.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Keebaugh\u2019s inspiration<\/b><\/h3>\n

The event is modeled on Keebaugh\u2019s own 2015 experience as one of five finalists from among 3,000 global applicants for an Iron Composer competition in Berea, Ohio. That year, the secret ingredient was an assigned antique board game. <\/span><\/p>\n

The year before, he said, it was a tree. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t break it or harm it, but you could shake it. They put mics on it,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read about Keebaugh\u2019s participation in the 2015 Iron Composer competition.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five student composers. Anticipation. Five hours. Fear. One concert. And one champion. But this spring\u2019s first-ever Iron Composer competition at Eastern Mennonite University is less about proving who\u2019s \u201cbest of ... read more about Saturday’s Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes ‘secret ingredient’<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":37966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5589,13808,5594,17564,5597,5598,5183],"tags":[],"feature":[17423,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-37965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-and-religion","category-computer-science","category-education","category-events","category-liberal-arts","category-mathematical-sciences","category-music","feature-featured-undergrad","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nSaturday's Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes 'secret ingredient' - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saturday's Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes 'secret ingredient' - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Five student composers. Anticipation. Five hours. Fear. One concert. And one champion. But this spring\u2019s first-ever Iron Composer competition at Eastern Mennonite University is less about proving who\u2019s \u201cbest of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-24T13:58:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/\",\"name\":\"Saturday's Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes 'secret ingredient' - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-24T13:58:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"L-R, Silas Clymer, Kaleb Branner, Robbie Chaplin, Andry Stutzman, Perry Blosser. All are competitors in the first Iron Composer competition in EMU's Music Department.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saturday’s Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes ‘secret ingredient’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saturday's Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes 'secret ingredient' - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saturday's Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes 'secret ingredient' - EMU News","og_description":"Five student composers. Anticipation. Five hours. Fear. One concert. And one champion. But this spring\u2019s first-ever Iron Composer competition at Eastern Mennonite University is less about proving who\u2019s \u201cbest of","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2018-04-24T13:58:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/","name":"Saturday's Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes 'secret ingredient' - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-24T13:58:32+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180416-Iron-Composer-Edit-002-1000px.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"L-R, Silas Clymer, Kaleb Branner, Robbie Chaplin, Andry Stutzman, Perry Blosser. All are competitors in the first Iron Composer competition in EMU's Music Department."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emus-first-iron-composer-contest-is-a-unique-and-valuable-life-lesson-with-prizes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Saturday’s Iron Composer contestants have five hours to create music that includes ‘secret ingredient’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37965"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37974,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37965\/revisions\/37974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37965"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=37965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}